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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Just in time for Valentine's week, True Blue SEALs:Zak is the 12th book in the SEAL Brotherhood Series, and is now on preorder.

You loved Zak and Amy's story in True Navy Blue, my novella that first appeared in an anthology and is now available in all formats, including audio. This is a continuation of their story, beginning with an intimate quickie wedding, and his first deployment to North Africa. Their SEAL Team 3 is tasked with providing security for the Secretary of State on a super secret diplomatic mission.

Zak and Amy will have some things to work out when he returns injured. It will be a true test of their marriage, their love, their future together.

Blurb:

Zak and Amy are destined for each other. After successfully passing the BUD/S training, and helping to stop a San Francisco terrorist attack, Zak goes to the arena of war with the rest of his SEAL Team 3 buddies, to return a changed man. Amy will have to negotiate the pain in her heart as she works to discover the man she loved going off to war is still the man of her dreams, and only if she can convince Zak he still is that man.Here's a short excerpt:

His
hands smoothed up and down her upper arm as he stared at the ceiling. He’d made
the first step to do something important with his life by becoming a Navy SEAL.
His new family, the Brotherhood, healed and filled so many holes in his soul.
He felt the honor of serving with men who would gladly die for him, without
thinking about it. He was indeed one of the lucky ones. Now, he was about to do
the next big thing in his life. He was “securing the target,” bringing Amy into
his life not just as a girlfriend, but also as a mate and life partner. He’d
even been honest with her. If she couldn’t take the intensity of his family
now, couldn’t deal with the stress and loss and tears that sometimes came with
the job, along with the joy of doing something more important than all of them,
he’d have to walk away.

And,
as hard as it would be, he’d do it. He’d make sure he didn’t give up on his
shot to become one of the best of the best, and to serve his country proudly
with honor.

They
were to meet Carter at an omelet house for breakfast. He and Amy noodled around
in the shower until they were going to be very unfashionably late. He was
always the one to have to turn down the heat so they could keep to a schedule.
Amy would have been fine just staying in bed the whole time.

She
made a point of showing him she wasn’t going to wear panties, “just in case.”

“This
is going to be a painful day for me, I can see.”

“I
have the cure for that pain,” she whispered.

“Indeed
you do.” Her hopeful face was seeking out a message he wasn’t going to give
her. “You’re here to learn about my community. And before you tell me you
learned all you need to know in that bed,” he pointed to the tussled sheets
behind him, “I need to show you things. Things that are important for you to know.
I’m doing this for you, Amy.” He added a smile he’d almost forgotten to show.

She
got that little flighty look as she continued dressing and then examining the
floor, turning her head from side to side, the pouty smile on her face, just
reminding him that he really wasn’t in control. “Zak, I hope you’re not tired
of me already,” she whispered to her bright red toes.

“Not
a chance, sweetheart.” He grabbed her and held her tight. Lifting her lips with
fingers gently under her chin. “Stay just the way you are. Insatiable.” He
kissed her. “Sexy as hell.” He kissed her again. “Riding my cock all night long
like last night. I’m going to be ruined when you have to go back.”

“Then
keep me here.”

Her
clear brown eyes were honest, unflinching. He knew she was ready to take that
step through the doorway with him. As long as everything else worked out for
these next two days, he’d be able to convince her to get married before he
deployed. That was the mission. That was the target to be acquired.

Sharon Hamilton is a NYT and USA/Today bestselling author
most known for her SEAL Brotherhood series. She also writes Golden Vampire and
Guardian Angel series.

A lifelong organic gardener, Sharon lives with her husband
in the Wine Country of Northern California, where most of her stories take
place. When she’s not writing, she’s getting verra verra dirty in the mud, or
wandering Farmer’s Markets looking for new Heirloom varieties of vegetables and
flowers.

Friday, January 15, 2016

TEMPTED BY A SEAL (Hot SEALs) by Cat Johnson

Loner. Biker. SEAL.

Known only as Mack to his SEAL teammates, he’s a stone cold killer when he needs to be, but he’d rather just straddle his Harley and escape from everything and everyone.

The only person who calls James MacIntyre by his given name is his father, the one family member he has left . . . that is until his widowed father meets a divorcee and decides to remarry. Suddenly, this woman and her daughter are Mack’s new family, all calling him James whether he likes it or not.

The problem is he’s starting to like hearing his name on the lips of curvy co-ed Lydia.

As he leaned back while the bartender upended a bottle over the glass, he glanced around and took in his surroundings. The place had filled up a bit more since he’d arrived.

It looked like the usual late night crowd, most a good ten maybe twenty years younger than the patrons who came in during daylight hours.

Mack was more than a bit familiar with the comings and goings of the establishment’s customers.

That wasn’t just because he lived directly across the street and had a view of the place from every one of his apartment’s windows. It was more because he had frequented the bar during all hours of the day and night himself.

Working vampire hours a lot of the time had made him an equal opportunity drinker. Daytime. Nighttime. Anytime.

He didn’t judge anybody else, so he figured they had better not judge him either. Not if they knew what was good for them, anyway.

The one whisky he’d downed hadn’t improved his mood any. Maybe he’d have better luck with the second.

Mack pushed the change he’d left out from the first round closer to the bartender. “Take it out of there.”

The bartender nodded and grabbed a bill from the stack.

They’d done this dance many times. Mack knew the next round would be free. He would down it and leave the remaining cash on the bar as a tip before making his way across the street to his bed.

Three drinks, straight with no ice to water down and ruin the whisky—that would hopefully keep the nightmares away. For tonight, at least.

Tomorrow would be another story.

In the morning he had that waking nightmare of meeting Daddy’s new wife and her daughter. What fun.

Mack felt the guilt niggling at the back of his brain. He should be happy his father had found someone to make him happy after the loss of his mother.

He wasn’t.

Pressing the glass to his lips, Mack downed a large swallow and relished as it burned a path down his throat.

He felt the fire all the way through his chest. Clear to where his cold dead heart was lodged, still beating away somehow when so many others no longer had that luxury.

Funny that he had plenty of heart when he was fighting. Hell, maybe all that took was balls, not heart. Maybe he was as far past caring as he suspected he was. He didn’t seem to be able to feel all that much for other people at the moment.

“I said no!”

A voice that rose above the usual volume of the din of the bar had Mack twisting in his seat to get a better look.

He zeroed in on the source of the annoyed-sounding exclamation and saw the woman he’d noticed briefly before when he’d surveyed those around him.

Okay, he’d noticed her because her ass, round and firm as she perched on the bar stool, had looked particularly enticing.

Nothing he liked more than a woman with generous curves. Another time, he’d be more than interested in an ass like that, but he was not interested in this particular woman.

First of all, she looked painfully young. Young enough that he hoped the bartender had taken the time to check her ID and verify she was allowed to be drinking that bottle of light beer. The bottle that was giving him ideas he shouldn’t be having as she pressed the longneck against her lips.

Staring straight ahead at the shelves of bottles behind the bar, she was making an obvious attempt to ignore the sleazy guy next to her.

The lowlife—a snap judgment on Mack’s part that he was standing behind even if it was made just by looking at him—leaned closer.

The young woman planted the bottle on the bar and turned to face the man. “Look. I said no thank you.”

Mack didn’t hear the bastard’s response but he could only imagine it wasn’t good since the chick grabbed her purse from the bar and moved to climb off the barstool.

When the guy grabbed her arm, Mack decided he’d had enough.

He was behind the guy and had him in a headlock before anyone knew what was happening, particularly the douchebag himself.

Ignoring the shock on the brunette’s face, Mack leaned down close to the guy’s ear and hissed, “She said she wants to be left alone. So how about you listen to her and go somewhere else?”

The guy looked torn between pissing his pants and wanting to break free and take a swing at Mack.

Mack wasn’t sure about his first prediction coming true, but he knew the second wasn’t going to happen as long as he was living and breathing. He tightened his hold just enough to scare the guy.

If this went on any longer, he’d be perfectly comfortable choking out the guy. It wouldn’t kill him. He’d wake up eventually and Mack had no doubt that once this asshole was blissfully unconscious he could leave him to recover on the floor in the back hall by the bathroom and the bartender wouldn’t have a thing to say about it.

Mack didn’t tell people what he did for a living but in this area—just a few miles from the base—it was easy enough for the locals to pick out the Navy guys among them.

His disappearing for months at a time didn’t help hide Mack’s occupation. Neither did the fact that he could take out this asshole so easily, so quietly, no one would notice except for the sweet, curvy young thing watching him with her big brown eyes wide with surprise.

“We gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?” Mack asked, low and close.

“I wasn’t doing any—”

Mack squeezed a bit tighter. “See, now that wasn’t the question. Wanna try again? You’re going to leave the lady alone. You can do that under your own power, or mine. Your choice.”

“Fine. I’ll go.” The guy’s reply was more of a wheeze.

Mack probably shouldn’t take such great satisfaction at that, but hell, sometimes little things made him happy.

“Good boy.” Mack waited a second before easing up his hold, all while watching for any move the dickhead might make to indicate he wasn’t going to go quietly.

The guy would have to be pretty stupid to try anything.

Dickhead proved to be stupider than Mack anticipated.

It was the smallest shift in posture, but Mack was skilled in reading body language. Just as the guy pivoted and drew back his fist, Mack sprung into action.

He had the guy face down on the ground, arms secured behind his back, all before the first punch was ever thrown.

Mack sighed. There was no hiding the conflict now. The others were starting to notice his knee in the back of a man whose face he was grinding into the dirt of the bar floor with one hand while holding his wrists in the other.

“Need a little help?” The bartender’s black pants and shoes came into Mack’s line of vision.

Mack twisted his neck and glanced up. “Does it look like I need help?”

“Nope, but if you hurt him the police are gonna get involved, then there will be reports to be filed and I ain’t got the time or patience for that. So how about I take over and you can sit down and relax?”

Mack pursed his lips. He had no dog in this fight. He’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. And for some reason had felt the need to get involved.

That was pretty unlike him, actually. When he was in civilian mode, usually all hell had to break loose before he bothered to take note and even think about intervening.

The bartender was right. Maybe it was time he got back to his brooding.

“Well, I would like to finish my drink.” He shot the bartender a crooked grin.

The burly man, who probably owned the place given he was there so often, snorted out a short laugh. “Yeah, I figured.”

They swapped positions, the bartender taking over dealing with stupid ass and dragging him up off the floor.

The kid looked happy to be standing or maybe he was just grateful to be away from Mack. At this point, Mack didn’t know and couldn’t care.

Mack glanced at the girl. “You okay?”

She watched him for a second before nodding. “Yes.”

He dipped his head in a nod, not bothering with more conversation. He had his answer, so he turned to move back to his spot and his drink.

“Wait.” She scurried after him, arriving just as his ass hit the barstool.

He cocked one brow. “Yeah?”

“I uh wanted to say thank you.”

“No problem.” He lifted one shoulder and reached for his glass.

He didn’t quite make it before she stuck her hand out to him. “I’m Lydia.”

Yes, she was cute. Yeah, he hadn’t gotten laid in far too long. But this close up, and under the light above them, his initial impressions were confirmed. She was young.

Young and naïve and sweet and everything he had no interest in and no business touching.

Completely ignoring her and her gesture would be rude. Since that wasn’t an option he liked, he turned his body enough he could extend his right hand out to her. “Mack.”

The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah. You too.” He dropped his hold and turned back to reach for his glass.